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Why Your Story Was Rejected - The Query Letter Conundrum
2009-12-02 18:05:00
Hello - "Thank you for your submission to "Yuri Monogatari." We know just how much time goes into the creation of a story, and we appreciate your effort. Unfortunately, your story doesn't really fit our criteria, and so we're going to have to pass. Of course we wish you the very best of luck in your quest to be published, and hope to hear from you again when you have another story that is suitable for the "Yuri Monogatari" series." *** There's nothing fun about rejecting a story. I don't enjoy it, the creator in question doesn't enjoy it. We're all unhappy. But it has to be done. There are a zillion "so you wanna be an author" books and magazines, and all of them talk about the rejection process. They say it's inevitable and that it isn't you and that if you do it *just* right, you'll get that magical request for more. This is all true - and it's all totally, completely untrue, as well. Like mostly everything, there's an almost random combination of luck and hard w...
More About: Story , Letter , Rejected

Mikarun Cross Manga, Volume 1
2009-12-01 20:39:00
Man, have I read a lot of weird stuff recently. First it was Kiryuuin Saeko, Private Detective Agency (which I did not review because there is no Yuri in it) and then there was Assistant Denki Keika (which I did, because there was.) In Mikarun Cross , Volume 1 (ミカるんX) Runa is a normal child who finds herself somewhere between here and there and is given a magical bracelet that grants her wishes. Her first wish is that her battling parents make up, which appears to work. Mika is the daughter of an archeologist who is killed in a Hamas attack and is adopted by a powerful politician. (Are you with me so far? my wife asks) Runa and Mika meet at an elite girl's school in Shibuya. You can tell it is elite because it incorporates the famous Shibuya 109 building into itself and because the buildings make the shape of the Qabalistic Tree of Life. Mika immediately starts to mack on Runa, but when a giant alien monster slices Mika's head off, Runa loses it and asks her magic bracel...
More About: Manga

The Great Manga Gift Guide Project
2009-11-30 22:33:00
Last week, the New York Times posted their Graphic Novel Gift Guide and to no one's surprise there wasn't a single manga on the list. (Seriously, NYT, it's totally cool that your GN guy doesn't read manga - no one is saying that it's not. Can you just PLEASE also hire someone who cares about manga to be the one to write about it? Thanks, we really appreciate it.) In response, David Welsh of Precocious Curmudgeon came up with the idea of the Great Manga Gift Guide. Reviewers and readers will be posting their suggestions for great manga gifts on Thursday. (That's Thanksgiving in America, for anyone who doesn't get the timing. This day is traditionally followed by a day of crazy sales frenzy on consumer goods.) This will give us manga readers some things to be thankful for. :) David is even willing to devote space on his site to folks who would like to participate who don't have blogs of their own. Because one of the most amazing things about the Anime/Manga scene on Twitter ...
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Yawara, A Fashionable Judo Girl Anime, Volume 1 (English)
2009-11-29 20:55:00
It's that ole classic love-hate rivalry. A mean, self-centered, usually at least borderline psychotic person, has their worldview shattered by a rival they cannot control through money or power or sheer force of will. Typically, the hero/ine is wholly unaware of their "rival's" feelings. Often they are unaware that they have a rival at all. No, the strong emotions live one-sidedly in the teeny little obsessive heart of the evil rival. Let's face it, A-ko never gives B-ko a second thought. In Yawara, A Fashionable Judo Girl , Inokuma Yawara is uninterested in her rival, Ho'onami Sayaka - indeed, she's largely unaware of her until Sayaka makes her presence un-ignorable. For old-school Yuri (and Yaoi) fans, this kind of relationship is full of nostalgia. Before we had actual GL and BL couples, we had this. And that was pretty much it. So, for a lot of reasons, slipping Volume 1 of Yawara into my DVD player was pretty nostalgic. That, and seeing AnimEigo's logo being rained o...
More About: Anime , English

The Great Manga Gift Guide - Okazu Edition
2009-11-29 19:24:00
Here it is, my friends, the Okazu Edition of the Great Manga Gift Guide . These are my suggestions for manga that would make great gifts for the fan(s) in your life. *** Dogs, Bullets Carnage - This title is unbridled action. It's a bunch of broken, violent people in a violent world. The art is *very* stark, which works totally for what little of the story exists. Mostly, the story is the frame for the fighting. There is a chick with a weapon, but don't look for more than that. Who Would Like It: Not for beginner manga fans, but if your gift recipient thinks they've seen it all - here's something with all of it at once. :-) Kimi ni Todoke - This is one of my wife's favorite series right now. It's got that thing that we westerners so often miss in manga - someone who just spits it out already. The protagonist is...nice. And the fun of the series is watching everyone else realize that, too. This female lead is no typical "he's mean to me because he loves me" heroine. ...

Yuri Network News - November 28, 2009
2009-11-28 15:31:00
Yuri Anime It is holiday time, so a number of Yuri Anime releases are right around the corner! Ikkitousen DD is due to be released next week, so we can get our fix of great heroes of China turned into buxom, strong, yet largely powerless pawns of loathesome guys. :-) For those of us who can't ever get enough of this, a *new* Ikkitousen series has been announced in Japan - Ikkitousen XX (Xtreme Xecutor). Ryomou and Kanu are in it, so we can all relax. ;-) In fact, the last issue of Gum magazine I bought had a fabulous Ryomou on the cover, so hopefully she'll get even more screen time. Also scheduled for release in the next few weeks is the first Volume of El Cazador. Who wouldn't want this rollicking tale of witches and gunslingers and mad scientists and bunnymen and sexy assassins? Don't forget the complete collection of Blue Drop, which was officially released this month. I was listening to a Blue Drop Drama CD a few weeks ago and I was reminded how much I really liked t...
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Yuri Manga: Assistant Denki Keika, Volume 2
2009-11-23 23:59:00
Well, now. If you thought Assistant Denki Keika, (アシスタント�奇ケイカ) Volume 1 was odd, you'd be right. Volume 2 is off the rails. Tamae is in a match to see who is the best person for an assistant mangaka position. Her competition is a normal guy and some freaky alien who communicates by placard and says her name is Omugai Shoujo. After they all participate in a round of Kokurri-san (think Ouija board and you'll get the point) they call up a vengeful spirit who chased them all out of the house. Relaying this to Keika, Tamae learns that Keika's afraid of scary stories. Tamae and Keika fight off an evil presence in their apartment, which turns out to be their boss...only it's not really...wooooohhhhhh~~~ They hit up a sex club in order to "do research" and Tamae ends up with some good ideas for Keika, if not her manga. And then the story gets weird. Attacked by the forces of evil, Keika is saved by Omugai Shoujo, who Keika recognizes as her older brother (th...
More About: Manga

Dragon Sister Manga, Volume 1 (English)
2009-11-22 20:35:00
I don't know about you, but I really can't get enough of the atrocities perpetrated upon Romance of the Three Kingdoms in anime and manga. Unlike, say, Alice in Wonderland - which is already seriously WTF, Romance is staid and serious and political. So when anime/game/manga people rework it, it's like dyeing Guan Gong's beard hot pink. In Dragon Sister, Volume 1 the story is pretty much left alone, except for one small thing...all the great heroes are turned into women. Unlike Koihime Musou or Ikkitousen however, we're actually given a reason for this. To wit, the three Zhang brothers, leaders of Huang Jin rebels, are given magic that they decide they will use to save their land. In the course of their deep meditation upon this magic, one of the brothers decides that the best thing would be to turn all the heroes into women. Of course this backfires, turning them into women. From there, the story remains surprisingly true to the original. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, both of whom ...
More About: Manga , English

No News Report This Week
2009-11-21 15:44:00
Just wanted to let you know that there will be no News Report this week. I'm beat. I'll be back tomorrow with a review. I just need a day or two off to recharge and work on other projects. Instead, I'll leave you this: This week, we submitted Yuri Monogatari 6 to the Lambda Literary Awards. YM6 Video Trailer Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yli_kPSVkF s Yuri Monogatari 6 on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/bgnvut Yuri Monogatari 6 on Yuricon Shop: http://tinyurl.com/alcpub - Holiday Sale is still ongoing, so get yourself copy of what is sure to be the winner of the Lammy for Best LGBT Anthology!
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Yuri Manga: Girl Friends, Volume 3
2009-11-20 02:59:00
In Girl Friends , Volume 1 and Volume 2, we followed Mari as she struggles with her increasing interest in and desire for her best friend Akiko. Mari's conflict largely arises from the fact that she is fairly introverted, and has therefore not had the experience of close friendship with girls her age. She spends a lot of time sure that she's not normal, and A-ko is. She's doing her best to put her feelings aside, if not behind her, and at least recapture the friendship that she and A-ko shared. In Volume 3, we turn our gaze towards A-ko. She's been Mari's object of desire, but we've never really gotten into her head - until now. A-ko finds herself thinking way more about Mari than about anything. So much so, that she starts to see a pattern in her obsessing. After Mari's confession and their kiss, it seems almost obvious for Akiko to realize that she has fallen for Mari. But it's a long way from point A to Point B. But...and this is a big "but"....A-ko still isn't real...
More About: Manga

New Anime Season Autumn 2009: Shin Koihime Musou
2009-11-19 22:31:00
Quick, name an all-female anime/manga version of the Chinese Epic, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. No, wait - quick, name three. Last year we were 'treated' to Koihime Musou, one of several gender switch versions of the historical epic Romance. This year we have the debatable pleasure of a sequel, Shin Koihime Musou, currently streaming on Crunchyroll. The sequel begins with the appearance of the real Ryuubi since, as you may remember from last season the guy we thought was Ryuubi was not. The real Ryuubi is a bit of a ditz, but is, of the entire cast, probably the most sane. Having thus met the third of their triad, Kanu and Chohi renew their vow of sisterhood, just in case we forget the whole vow under the peach tree thing. The three, and a few of the others head off to something something which in this case is get Ryuubi's sword back, have adventures and eat - a lot. An inordinate amount of time is spent watching the travelers eat. In the meantime, the story veers off to...
More About: Anime , Season

Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime, Volume 18 (Part 1)
2009-11-17 04:29:00
Volume 18 of Comic Yuri Hime once again has cover art from Eiki Eiki and Zaou Taishi's "Love DNA Double X," series and wow, have they laid the lilies on thick. Literally. The lily flowers practically crowd Sakura and Aoi off the page. In case you love the picture a lot, the extra for this volume is a postcard of the cover image. The first story begins with a girl recounting her many, all female, loves. We then break for some advertising and a chat with the Sasamekikoto voice actresses, in which they say the typical things about a Girl's Love story. Back to Shiroishi explaining to her friend that, yet again, she has fallen for a female classmate - this time the stylish, popular and apparently cold-hearted Midori. Tsubaki is incensed - she confronts Midori only to have the obvious pointed out to her - Tsubaki likes Shiroishi. I'm thinking of calling this plot complication "Crisis in Infinite Schools." What do you think? Mistue Aoki's "Bankara Otome Gakuen" details the relat...
More About: Manga , Part

Yuri Manga: Yuri Hime, Volume 18 (Part 2)
2009-11-17 01:59:00
Volume 18 of Comic Yuri Hime The second half of Volume 18 of Comic Yuri Hime is what you've all been waiting for - Sarasa and Seriho's first official date, in this chapter of "Ame-iro Kouchakan Kanadan!" Fujieda does what he he does best - he shows them wandering around, shopping, eating and generally doing the kind of stuff my wife and I call "Playing House." You know - the stuff you almost never see female couples doing in Yuri series. Sarasa is wholly unaware that Seriho has an agenda, trying to suss out Sarasa's feelings for her. So used to hiding what she feels, Sarasa has no idea that Seriho thinks that she, Sarasa is, "normal" and the only one in love is Seriho. Ayumi likes Miki in "Yuri Yuri," but Miki tells her it's gross. They play passive-agressive for a while, until Miki's homophobia turns out to really be sublimated love for Ayumi. Bwah-bwah-bwahhhh. In "Apple Day Dream" Yuma is marginally less passive-aggressive to Kaoru than usual. And I swear her name has been...
More About: Manga , Part

Yuri Network News - November 14, 2009
2009-11-14 17:45:00
With the remnants of Ida beating at my house, it's a curl up and read a book kinda day.... Yuri Manga Let's see...we already mentioned Comic Lily (which mostly has artists that specialize in moe loli Yuri, so my expectations are low to non-existent) and Yuri Shoujo. Have I mentioned yet *another* Yuri anthology, called Shoujo Yuri? Not sure. Well, now I have. As I mention in the comments, I saw a cover, but forgot to save the reference and now can't find it. Oh well. More info when I find it again. Also not sure if I pointed out that Tsubomi 4 is out. I've been a little disappointed with Tsubomi so far. It's been pretty lackluster, but Yuri Hime took a while to really get going and it's only now shifting into territory I really like, so I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt for a few more volumes. It's just kind of...okay. I finish each volume *really* tired of school girls kind of liking each other a bit. On a positive note, a series that has a character who actuall...
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Yuri Anime: Saki, Mid-season review
2009-09-21 23:22:00
Saki, we need to talk. It's nothing bad, really, it's just ... I'll be honest. I wasn't sure that we'd get along at first. You seemed to be too fake-cutesy, with those ridiculous ever-blushing cheeks, but always flashing your legs at me. It was a creepy mixed signal thing that got on my nerves. And Nodoka, always bouncing her big chest like that....I thought, can you both really be so innocent as you're gazing into each other's eyes longingly? But fine, I set that aside. Then you really started taking off. You let your innate abilities show, like you were finally free to be yourself. Sure, I noticed a few things, like the way you suddenly throw your ass into my face, dress up to please the guys in bathing suits, yukata and maid costumes all while you're looking at Nodoka so intensely. It kind of freaks me out. Like, pick one, okay? Can you not be the G-rated version of Girls Gone Wild? But I know that's not really your fault. You just want to get ahead in the world and t...
More About: Anime , Review , Season

Hayate x Blade Manga, Volume 10
2009-09-20 21:00:00
If you have been following Hayate x Blade  (???×????) from the beginning, you are vaguely aware that there is an itch in this series that is not being scratched.  But first, as Volume 10 opens,  there's the persistent and dangerous Ensuu and Mei to deal with. With incredible effort, and the stupidest technique ever (one used in previous volumes but no less silly this time) Ayana and Hayate *finally* bring the bad girls of Tenchi to their knees. Yay Team Us! Woo hoo! From almost the very first volume, we know that Hayate is one of a pair of twins. In fact, her older sister Nagi was the one originally accepted into Tenchi Gakuen, but wasn't able to attend because she was in the hospital. Only a few volumes ago, we were given a glimpse of the elusive Nagi, but that wasn't enough! Nagi needs to be in the story, and soon, I felt. Well, so did Hayashiya, apparently, because Nagi finally arrives to take her place among the sword-bearing student body at Tenchi G...
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Yuri Network News - September 19, 2009
2009-09-19 15:13:00
Yuri Games One of the biggest news items this week is the Sasamekikoto kissing game application for iPhone and iPod touch. It's available with English subtitles and apparently Ushio and you get to practice kissing until her mask dissappears. As you might remember, a Sasamekikoto anime is due out soon, so this is an interesting way to promote it. The game is free to download. Ted the Awesome shared his experience with the app on the Yuricon Mailing List: "Just put two fingers together, put it where you think the lips are behind the mask and gently move the fingers away from each other and than move the away from the screen. The moment your fingers no longer touch the screen is when the 'kiss' is counted for. I scored 100 at least four times and got some bonuses. The more you kiss her, the more her mask becomes transparent. If you're a good kisser throughout, she'll even take the mask off. The more points you score, the more character profiles shots you unlock. It also comes...
More About: News , Network , September , September 19

Yuri Light Novel: Amagami Emmenthal
2009-09-16 23:10:00
Upon reading the back cover of the Light Novel Amagami Emmenthal (??????????), I commented to the wife, "You gotta figure that any story in which the clothing gets credit as a cast member is definitely gonna be *great.*" (I was being sarcastic, in case that doesn't come across well in text.) In the end, the clothes actually *were* a member of the cast, and I could sort of see it being justifiable. But I'm starting with the end, so let me move backwards to the beginning. At Seiran Private Girls School, Kokone and Riko are classmates, roommates and, apparently, soulmates. But their relationship is far darker than that. Riko is a vampire and Kokone is her source of blood. On the other side, the continued pain and scars from Riko's feeding over the years has turned Koko-chan into a masochist, who fetishizes the wounds Riko causes. The story begins with them in middle school then, much like this review, backs up into their first meeting in first grade, then follows them through the ...
More About: Light Novel , Yuri

Needless, Anime and Manga
2009-09-15 23:35:00
A little over a year ago, I began getting Ultra Jump magazine, when Hayate Cross Blade moved to there from its former home. One of the other series in the magazine was the manga Needless and, being the manga omnivore I am, I gave it a try. I picked it up in the middle of a fight between a bunch of girls, whose underwear the reader was shown repeatedly and a buxom woman with evil eyebrows, whose cleavage the reader spent a lot of time looking down. There were two older guys with silly facial hair, a bunch of people in the background and a lot of screaming. Now, about 14 months later, Needless is still in the middle of the very same battle, with the very same characters in the same locations and lots of screaming. So, when the anime was announced, you can bet I had no expectations. And so far, I've been right on with that. :-) In a post-apocalyptic setting, Needless is the name given to people with special powers who spend most of the series yelling and fighting. The story is su...
More About: Manga , Anime , Anime and Manga

Ichiroh Manga, Volume 1 (English)
2009-09-14 21:00:00
When Yuri Network Correspondent Sean G. drew my attention to this manga, he did it in the least appealing way, much as he might have introduced me to a creepy relative. "This is Aunt Claudia. We have to invite her." lol So, while it wasn't high on my list of manga to read, it went onto the list and eventually, onto the pile of things to review. Ichiroh, Volume 1, follows the life of Nanako, a girl who fails to get into college, her friend Akane who shares her fate and friend Shiino who makes it in. These three are surrounded by other one or two joke characters that fill out the cast of this completely typical wackiness-filled 4-koma manga. As with most 4-panel strips, the comedy relies on goofy, abnormally extreme behaviors, puns, and exasperation on the part of the non-comic characters. If you've read any other 4-panel, you've read this one. In fact, other than the translation being in actual fluent English , it's not that different from Lucky Star. There was one thing that ...
More About: Manga

Yuri Network News - September 12, 2009
2009-09-12 20:27:00
Lots of Yuri News this week! Yuri Anime Animevice reported that He is My Master is going to be showing on Anime Network Online and out on DVD, and Ultraviolet 044 (yes, *that* Ultraviolet - based on the crap movie, and wasting starring the voice talents of Paku Romi) will be getting a US DVD release. If you aren't following Animevice on Facebook or Twitter or on the site directly, you're missing some extremely otaku-tastic news, btw. Highly recommended. Aoi Hana on Crunchyroll has ended for those of us who purchased subscriptions, and will end next week for the remainder of viewers. I cannot express how much I liked it. Yes, there were a few changes from the manga - in every case for the better, I thought. From beginning to end it is one of the best anime I've seen in the last few years and an exceptional example of schoolgirl romance Yuri. The 11 episodes covered three volumes of manga and, as of yet, there are only 4 volumes out so it may be some time before we learn if ther...
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Yuri Manga: Hakodate Youjin Buraijou Himegami, Volume 5
2009-09-12 18:22:00
Demons, women, women demons and women who fight demons. It's a much of a muchness in Hakodate Youjin Buraijou Himegami, Volume 5 (???????????). Having defeated the evil, demony, well-endowed, cross-dressing French proprietor of the Black Widow brothel, Himeka has been indulging in some well-deserved snuggling with Hyou, despite Hyou's reluctance. Once the marks of her curse recede, Hyou uses that as an excuse to escape from Himeka's clutches. (What a maroon, as Bugs would say. Himeka's also well-endowed with full lips and soft skin. DUH, Hyou.) Himeka is making no bones about her interest in Hyou. We'll just have to imagine that she wears the girl down eventually. In a long, drawn out bathing scene (where we see Hyou, Himeka and her Himegami sisters Ranka and Aika - but not Kirika - naked, without seeing anything at all, which is kind of an art in itself, I think) we learn that Hyou's "miburo," the marks on her back that indicate the presence of the Youjin, the power that fo...
More About: Manga , Yuri

"Lesbian" Comic: Peanut Butter, Volume 3 (English)
2009-09-11 02:37:00
Let's talk porn. It's not at all true that everyone knows porn when they see it. That's part of the meaning of the "L" in LFB. There are a lot of people who don't see any difference in say, true romance, and stalking or rape. Not just in straight porn, either. These themes are very very common in, oh, say, Yaoi/BL and "lesbian" porn for guys. Peanut Butter is American porn. It reads like a cross between a "true" letters to one of those porn mags that were kept under the counter of the Somerset Farms and only sold to cops and really sad looking guys, and one of those adult novels sold by Coles, when that chain inhabited all the malls of America. (If you don't remember either of these things, you are 1) too young to read Peanut Butter and 2) have missed *nothing,* except a few laughs at the bad writing in both.) It ostensibly is the diary of a severely out-of-proportion girl named Molly in her first semester at college surrounded by severely out-of-proportion other women and...
More About: Comic , Lesbian , English

Yuri Manga: Linkage
2009-09-09 18:00:00
"Do you remember, the moment your love first began?" Thus begins Linkage , the collection of Yuri Hime stories by Kurata Uso. These stories are linked only by their exploration of that one moment, when two people realize that they share the same feelings as one another. Two office workers who misunderstand their importance to one another, a young flutist and the woman who loves her, a rebellious schoolgirl who falls for a blind girl, two sisters who have always been close, and an AI researcher and her creation. None of these really has any 'link' to one another. The links are forged between the women in the relationships, and between them and us as we watch their love blossom into something real. There's little here that stands above and beyond the Typical "Story A," really, except that that characters are well drawn and well conceived. Despite the fact that only one of them even acknowledges the difficulty of the admission of loving another woman, these stories are pretty dar...
More About: Manga

Click Manhwa, Volume 3 (English)
2009-09-07 23:17:00
It's a full-on "stress about your gender" a-thon in Click , Volume 3. Joonha, now trapped permanently in a woman's body, is not one whit less gynophobic than she was a a guy. Men's bodies, she says, "sure are strong and beautiful," while women's bodies are "impossible to move around in and annoying as hell." Yep, you sure gotta like Joonha, especially if you're into whining and self-loathing. And then there's Heewon Jun who, in frustration at her unresolved love for Joonha, has taken to being the meanest, most violent, crude girl she can be. She smokes, she uses physical violence and she curses up a storm. And she's brought to a screeching halt when her friend from her former school points out the obvious and tells her that the guy she's in love with...is a woman. Obviously. Duh. I mean, no guy would wear a skirt, right? It could be fun and Yuri-ish if she decides she doesn't care. I foresee "funny" sexual embarrassment. Then there's Joonha's actual real love of her liv...
More About: English , Volume 3

Yuri Manga: Tetragrammaton Labyrinth, Volume 6 (English)
2009-09-06 22:39:00
In Volume 6 of Tetragrammaton Labyrinth , what was always implicit becomes finally explicit. As Angela, Meg and their allies face the evil, insane and powerful Gilles de Rais, and find that their own power comes up short against his, he raises the issue that has been the leitmotif of this entire series. Killing the living, raising the dead and stealing souls, he attests, is not for personal power. No, he commits heinous acts of brutality for *love.* It will come as no suprise that this fails to convince Angela to sympathize, but it brings up the obvious. De Rais asks Angela if she has anyone to love - truly love - give up her life for love. Well duh, dude. The final acts play out exactly as one expects. The good guys peel off one at a time to fight the bad guys, so we can be sad at our losses and the final confrontation has reversals and lots of screaming and blood and severed limbs. And, the ultimate sacrifice, as Angela gives up everything to keep Meg at her side. In the fina...
More About: Manga , English , Yuri

Yuri Network News - September 5, 2009
2009-09-05 19:46:00
So much great Yuri news this week!Yuri AnimeNovember is going to be a bang-up month for Yuri fans, with Sasamekikoto in Japan and El Cazador here, and now we have yet another thing to look forward to: Arca Jeth (and many other people!) want you to know that Sentai Filmworks announces that they'll be releasing Blue Drop in November as well. It'll be coming out as a season box set, for a reasonable price. Can't ask for better. :-)***Yuri MangaYNN correspondent Sean G. is pleased to note that the new Udon Press editions of the Silent Mobius manga has begun. Volume 1 is out, and full of Rally Cheyenne goodness.And in case you hadn't heard the news, Dark Horse will be putting out a Cardcaptor Sakura and Magic Knight Rayearth in omnibus editions.Also in November, Sylwia says that the Comix Grrrlz website is publishing their first Polish lesbian comic book anthology. Their project is not concentrated on manga style arts. "We want to publish a book contains different art styles and diff...
More About: News , Network , September , September 5

Aoi Shiro Manga, Volume 2
2009-09-04 02:01:00
In the Jive edition of Aoi Shiro , the focus is squarely on the game characters, as opposed to Ichinjisha's Yuri Hime edition of the story, in which the focus was on two almost irrelevant characters and was so tepidly Yuri that it failed to capture my interest. In Volume 2 of the Jive version of Aoi Shiro, Yuri takes a back seat to Action and Mystery and other capitalized selling points.Shouko, captain of the kendo club, is drawn into an ever-deepening mystery regarding Nami, the child she found on the beach. Her own childhood memories, Nami's unusual dress, and a giant Bull-Demon all collide in what probably makes a pretty good game and makes a reasonably good manga. This is all made even more interesting by a suit-wearing Onee-san type from Shouko's past and a guardian with one good eye-type from I have no idea whose past. And Nami transforms into someone older and less whiny.It's all full of shiny action and stuff. I'd go so far as to say it wouldn't make a bad anime, probab...
More About: Manga

Hidamari Sketch Manga, Volume 4
2009-09-02 21:00:00
It's Guest Review Wednesday once again on Okazu and once again, it is my sincere pleasure to welcome George R. for this week's guest review!The fourth volume of Aoki Ume's Hidamari Sketch manga (????????) came out in Japan this past January. I was a bit slow in picking it up, but am glad that I did. It doesn't have a deep involved plot or more than hints of Yuri, but then again Hidamari Sketch never has. If you've likedthe previous manga, light novels, or anime, you'll probably enjoy this as well.Ume-sensei has a strong cast of characters already and we can again enjoy the amusement in their daily lives. But she doesn't make them carry the entire load in this character-driven manga. The first extra we meet is Yuzawa Arisa, a senior art major, who is the only one left in the art room to answer Yuno's phone which she forgot there. She can't resist Yuno's cuteness and has her pose for a sketch.The end of the school year brings exams and Yuno does poorly enough to need to take...
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Yuri Manga: Tenbin ha Hana to Asobu, Volume 1
2009-09-01 22:03:00
In Volume 1 of Tenbin ha Hana to Asobu (???????), Yohko is a transfer student into the elite Lotus Girls High School. She's tremendously energetic and, it turns out, athletic, but she's not clueless or clumsy. She's just not elegant. Certainly, not as elegant as Shuu, the lavender-haired beauty who takes Yohko on a tour of the school. Upon meeting Shuu, Yohko's reaction is rather unusual - she claims to smell blood and asks Shuu if she's hurt. No, Shuu answers, but looks like there's something more to behind it. Shuu shows Yohko around, but after hours Yohko realizes she's forgotten something, and runs off to the the infirmary where she comes in on Shuu apparently drinking the blood from the school doctor's neck. The school doctor confirms what Yohko thinks she just saw - Shuu is a vampire. Not only is she a vampire, but at the moment she is genderless. Depending on whether she drinks more male or female blood, when she turns 18 she will become male or female.Yohko promises ...
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